Dive Summary:
- Debra Saunders-White, a former IBM systems engineer and IT administrator at Hampton U. and UNC Wilmington, took office as North Carolina Central University's 11th chancellor and first full-time female chancellor Monday.
- The new chancellor, who calls herself "the technology lady," used Twitter and Google to connect with students during her first day, and spoke about improving graduation rates, community engagement and global experiences at the student union Monday.
- Only 42% of the historically black university's entering freshmen in 2006 had a degree six years later, and Saunders-White, who was also a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Education Dept., said she hopes to improve those rates so most of the school's students graduate in four years, and as "techno-scholars."
From the article:
... “I am absolutely committed that we need to ensure that our students come in and are crossing the stage within a four-year period,” she said. “So I’m going to be working with our faculty and our administrators to understand what we need to do to realize that dream. ... It’s clearly what we need to do across our nation. You know, the longer a student stays within the academy, the more debt that they assume.” ...